


Can You Feel The Love Tonight?

by Snugglebuttkitten



Series: Crack AUs [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (sort of), ???? - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Kwamis, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bridgette is also a Liger, Cat Puns, Character Death, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, How Do I Tag, I Blame Writers_Muse For This, I Was Put Up To This By Members Of My Discord, Ligers, Lion King (1994) References, Lions, Marinette is a Liger, Racism between species, Rated For Violence, Sabine is a Tiger, She a hybrid, That's literally all this is, They're Lions, Tigers, What the actual fuck, Wtf am I doing, lion king AU, puns, this is dumb af
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 19:54:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18017387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snugglebuttkitten/pseuds/Snugglebuttkitten
Summary: Chat Noir has always been different. The only black Lion in a Pride living on a privately owned nature reserve, he knows what it's like to be ostracized because he doesn't look like everyone else. Perhaps that's why, when the new Pride moves into the enclosure next to his, he's so excited to meet Marinette, a creature even more different and phenomenal than he is.Marinette has always embraced her differences. As a Liger, she is the hybrid offspring of a Lion and a Tiger and her Pride and family have always done everything in their power to assure her that her uniqueness makes her special. Still, being one of only two Ligers in the whole Pride, she can't help but feel a bit like an outsider until she meets Chat Noir, a young Lion as black as night among a Pride that doesn't embrace his differences nearly as much as her Pride embraces her own.Sensing the loneliness one another feel, Chat Noir and Marinette become fast friends. But when tragedy rips them apart, it will take everything in their power to find their way back to one another.





	1. Important Info

**Author's Note:**

> This is Crack, treated in a serious way, but at the base, it's just crack. As the tags say, this was requested on my Discord (sort of). We were just goofing off and Lion King SOMEHOW came up and SOMEHOW I ended up getting slated to write this and... wtf ever I agreed so here we are lol This is probably horrible and I apologize and I'm just gonna post now, k? Enjoy?
> 
> I COULDN'T SLEEP SO I WROTE THIS AND I'M GONNA BE SO TIRED AT WORK TOMORROW

**So To Understand this Fic, Please Note that All The Lions will have TWO Names that They will be referred to. I Know that can get a bit confusing but the reason I am doing that is that I believe that the humans would have names for them, and then their pride would have names for them because they can talk to one another. IF THEY DON'T HAVE TWO NAMES, I JUST DECIDED NOT TO TRY AND COME UP WITH ONE. THEY JUST HAVE ONE NAME IN THAT CASE. So please refer to this, if ever you get confused, as it will have all of the important information regarding the two prides'.**

**STILL A MAJOR WIP. Adult Images for the Cubs will be added on later**

**  
**

**Papillion Pride:**

Alpha Male: [Hawkmoth](https://worldanimalnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/karine-aigner3.jpg) (Human Name: Gabriel) - a light golden lion with blue eyes  
Alpha Female: [Duusu](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XdgS9g4KjmM/TFIYDq0xmfI/AAAAAAAAFmY/tfkLXDcw95M/s1600/danse-lioness.jpg) (Human Name: Emilie) - a golden lioness with green eyes  
Heir 1: [Plagg](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Uzj33A1UIOA/maxresdefault.jpg) (Human Name: Felix) - a light golden lion with blue eyes  
Heir 2: [Chat Noir](https://i.imgur.com/pPBU2B4.jpg?1?fb) (Human Name: Adrien) - a black lion cub

Lionesses:  
[Volpina](https://www.tripsavvy.com/thmb/mMF2jd-Laqiw-tAvWzG1CbWFR3c=/960x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/138143269-56a375483df78cf7727d758f.jpg) (Human Name: Lila) - A reddish colored cub  
[Rena Rogue](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/05/27/70/052770793790f58ac7f97878651717f9.jpg) (Human Name: Alya) - A reddish cub with slightly longer fur  
[Pollen](https://www.featurepics.com/StockImage/20080114/lion-cub-stock-photo-574991.jpg)(Human Name: Chloe) - A pretty, golden cub

Lions:  
Trixx   
Nooroo   
Kim

 

 

**Cocinelle Pride:**

Alpha Male: [Tom](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS92PLuOuZFDq0QWbabW1rKJXa13UQQHUYrtWSzc0o4x77vpDQl4Q) \- a golden brown lion with darker highlights in his mane  
Alpha Female: [Sabine](http://i.imgur.com/2V8w8.jpg) \- a black and white tigress  
Heir 1: [Tikki](https://wonderopolis.org/wp-content/uploads//2013/11/dreamstime_xl_16953361-custom.jpg) (Human Name: Bridgette) - a pretty golden Liger  
Heir 2: [Ladybug](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/05/68/bb/0568bbcc32251006bbb0721be10ef5de--ligers-cubs.jpg) (Human Name: Marinette) - a reddish gold Liger Cub with blue eyes  
  
Lions:  
Viper (Human Name: Luka) -  
Carapace (Human Name: Nino) -  
Wayzz  
Mullo  
Fu

Lionesses:  
Caline  
Alix  
Kagami


	2. The New Neighbors

Life in the enclosure was all Chat Noir had ever known. He was born into the Papillion Pride, as they called themselves, the youngest son to Alpha pair Hawkmoth and Duusu. From the moment he opened his eyes, only a few weeks old and barely able to stand, Chat understood that he was different. Looking up into his mother’s face for the first time, it was fairly easy to note that she looked vastly different than he did. Where she was fair, his fur was nearly jet black. A shadow against the prickly bedding that cushioned the bottom of their den. In his youthful naivety, Chat Noir truly believed that when he was introduced to the rest of the Pride for the first time, he would see others who looked like him. He would end up sorely disappointed. At first, the tiny lion cub didn’t mind his differences so much. So he was a bit darker than his family and the other pride members… he was still the same as they were on the inside. Surely his different coat color would have no impact on his social standing among his pride mates. Once again, he would be sorely disappointed.

It didn’t take long for Chat Noir to understand that his Pride preferred everyone to be the same. The lionesses eyed him warily when he passed by, pulling their cubs away when he would have approached them and asked them if they wanted to play. The older males tended to push him around and pick on him, teasing him for his black pelt. The only ones who truly seemed to accept him were Duusu, his infinitely kind mother, and Plagg, his grumpy but protective elder brother. Even his father, who at times treated the young cub as a mere nuisance, tended to treat him far more kindly than the rest of the Pride did. Often, the young cub found himself alone, splashing in the shallows of the big pool that sat in the center of their enclosure, or chasing after bugs through the tall grass. Sometimes, he even sneaked away to the front gates in hopes of getting a bit of attention from the humans who kept them. If his father knew this, he would be furious, but the humans were kind and gentle and they often brought treats for the little cub whenever they were checking the enclosure.

Overall, it was a lonely existence for the young male and he oftentimes found himself wishing for a friend to call his own. He never expected his wish to come true, in the most unexpected of ways. The day in question dawned swelteringly hot, with temperatures seeming to rise by the second. It was late in the summer, so the temperature alone wasn’t altogether surprising. Chat Noir had long-since grown bored of hiding from the heat in the cool of the den, especially since Pollen and Volpina had also chosen to hide away from the harsh rays there. At one point, Chat Noir had once wished to be friends with the two females who were close in age to him, perhaps a few days younger. However, Pollen was rather stuck up and bossy and Volpina was cunning and deceptive and he had quickly realized that he was probably a lot better off without being friends with those two. Let them fawn over his brother all they wanted. He would rather be off on his own anyway, weather be damned.

So it was that the young cub found himself down by the pool. The water was blissfully cool beneath his uncomfortably warm pads, and he was just starting to contemplate wading further into the cooling waters when movement near the far side of the enclosure caught his eye. Being the curious sort, and with no one else around to see what mischief he might be getting into, Chat Noir splashed out of the pool, pausing to shake his pelt out before crossing the enclosure to the far fence. On the other side of the fence, just a few short pawsteps away, there was another enclosure, nearly identical to the one he called home. For as long as Chat had been alive, the enclosure had been empty. He had asked his father about it once, and his father had grunted and said the enclosure used to be home to a bunch of tigers. He said it with a note of disgust, like tigers were beneath them, and when prodded had only said they were another kind of feline, but with stripes.

Chat Noir had been quite fascinated at the thought of _another_ kind of big cat, having naively believed that Lions were the only kind of big cat there was. Alone with his thoughts so often, he liked to secretly imagine what it would be like to befriend a tiger. Were they as stuck up as some of his lion brethren seemed to be? Were they as against other species of big cats as his father appeared to be? Or would they be open and accepting to someone like him. Someone who didn’t quite fit in with his own species, but who desperately wanted to fit in with someone. He never expected to get an actual answer to these silly musings, so you can imagine his surprise when, having approached the fence that separated the two enclosures, he found himself face to face with the very answer to his private musings. There was a lion in the enclosure; a large, unfamiliar lion with golden brown fur and a mane streaked gold and brown. And with him, a cat that he had never seen before. A black feline, smaller than most lions, with black and white fur and very distinct stripes. A tiger, he presumed, given he had never seen anything else with stripes quite like those.

The pair appeared to have emerged from a large box that completely filled up the entrance to the enclosure, with a human manning a machine that held the door to the box open from outside of the enclosure. Chat Noir watched with rapt interest as more big cats filtered out of the big box. Mostly lions and lionesses, but a few tigers mixed in, and among them… there was a cub! Chat Noir felt a bolt of excitement as a pretty reddish colored cub with spots and stripes adorning her pelt stumbled out of the box beside a similarly marked lioness. Chat Noir had never seen lionesses with marks like those, and while he was intrigued, he was more interested in the fact that the cub looked different than her pride mates. She looked different to them in the same way that he looked different to his own pride mates and this face sent a zing of excitement racing through his small, dark-furred body.

He couldn’t help but watch them for the rest of the day, from beneath his small bush, even as the sun beat down and warmed his pelt uncomfortably. He watched them until the sun sank beneath the horizon, until the cub had long since retired to their den for the night, until his own mother called out for him to return home so that he, too, could go to sleep. Reluctantly tearing his eyes from the new enclosure, Chat Noir bounded home, feeling lighter on his paws than he had ever felt before. Eager though he was to share his discovering with his family, he opted to keep it to himself for now and when his mother asked, assured her than he had just had a nice day. But internally, as he laid down against the curve of his mother’s belly and allowed his eyes to drift shut, Chat Noir vowed that he would meet that cub officially, as soon as possible, and he was going to befriend her if it was the last thing he did.


	3. A New Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quick insight on Ladybug's past leading up to her first day in the new enclosure!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Up: Our Heros meet!
> 
> Quick Note: I'm guessing some of you wondered why I made Luka a white Lion, when his hair is black. Originally I wanted to make him look like Scar/Kovu colors but couldn't find realistic images like that and don't wanna use animation images on this. And the second reason is that I want him as vastly different from Chat Noir as possible. He IS a rival in love for a very brief period of time and I want the pair as different as night and day. Alternatively, I could have made Luka black and Chat Noir white, given his blonde hair, but I really wanted to emphasize the name CHAT NOIR and make it work and that is my reasoning

Ladybug was born into what barely amounted to a pen. Located on a privately owned property, the pen basically amounted to a four-sided, chain link enclosure with a roof over their heads that did absolutely nothing to keep the elements out. The floor was hard-packed earth, and there was a rickety wooden structure on one side of the den for them to play with. The other side of the pen had a big wooden enclosure where she had been born, and where she slept with whoever could fit inside during the bitter cold nights. The pen itself was about three sizes too small for the size of their pride, and the food and water were rarely enough to go around when it was provided, but her parents were fair and just alphas who made do with what they had.

They called themselves the Coccinelle Pride, an interesting mix of Lions and Tigers that had found their peace in living together and who celebrated their differences. Ladybug and her elder sister, Tikki, were living proof that different species of large cats could get along if they only set their differences and biases aside. Their mother, Sabine, was a Tigress. A unique, black and white tigress who’s fur almost looked blue in certain lighting. Their father, Tom, was a large lion who though large, was infinitely kind and gentle and beloved by their pridemates. Usually, his gentle nature would have been seen as a weakness, but in their unique pride, it was celebrated and there wasn’t a male among them that would attempt to challenge him for the role of Alpha. They respected him too much. That’s not to say Tom  _ couldn’t _ defend his title if he had to. He was still protective of his Pride and his family and would defend his spot with his life if he had too, in order to assure his ideals for the pride stayed alive. But ultimately, he preferred to lead without the unnecessary violence if at all possible.

Ladybug noticed early one that she was a bit different than the other members of their pride. While most cubs were born with a few spots on their head that faded over time as they lost their baby coat and grew fuller, adult coats, Ladybug was born with both spots and stripes. No doubt this was due to her heritage, but she also had little hope of losing at least the spots when she grew older. Tikki hadn’t, so why should she expect to lose them? Despite her differences, she was never made to feel like an outsider among her Pride. The Tigers and Lions alike both accepted her and her sister, treating them like Princesses whenever they emerged from their rickety wooden den and out into the light of day. All in all, life in the pen wasn’t too terrible. Most days, Ladybug awoke with the sun and tumbled out of the den, intent on a day full of playing with the other cubs who were about the same age as she was, perhaps varying in age by a few days or weeks. There were plenty of other cubs to play with; Kagami, Alix, Juleka, Rose… Carapace was probably her closest friend, however. His mellow nature better suited her, and often the pair could be could be found lazing about or lazily wrestling in the shade beneath the play structure while the other cubs played above them.

Ladybug was probably four or five months old when the humans came to take them away. She had never been fearful of humans. The humans who kept them in the pen were misguided, but they weren’t intentionally cruel and the human cubs would often come down from their den and offer the cubs treats and chin scratches through the chain link fence. Ladybug especially liked when they scratched around her soft, fuzzy ears. The pride was rather used to humans coming to gawk at them, so they didn’t much react to the strange humans entering their enclosure and put up little fight when they were darted. The older members of the pride were all loaded into a big box the moment they were out, the cubs herded in afterward to sit among their sleeping parents. Ladybug was a little scared, but mostly she was curious and as the box started moving, she was eventually lulled to sleep by the soft rumble of the engine and the gentle vibrations beneath her paws.

When she awoke again, it was to the soft nudge of her sister’s muzzle against her flank, and she batted softly at the older lioness with oversized paws, protesting the thought of waking up from her nap. When she did, finally, blink open her cerulean eyes, she found the box had stopped moving and that the doors were open, blinding sunlight and sweltering heat coming from the open entrance. The other members of the pride had already exited the box, leaving only Ladybug and Tikki left, and as she blinked groggily, she felt herself being nudged insistently to her paws. Rising, she shook herself and followed Tikki out into the sun, eyes immediately screwing up at the sudden harshness of the light after the darkness of the box. It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust, but when they did, the cub came to a screeching halt and just stared around her in wonder.

There was something soft and springy under her paws; something she had never felt before. Something she would later learn was called grass. The new enclosure, as that’s what she soon discovered this was, stretched out before her, seeming to never end! There were trees for shade, thick foliage to explore, a big rocky area on the far side with a den big enough for the whole pride and then some! And there was water. So much water. A whole pool of water! At the call of her friends, Ladybug cast a quick look towards Tikki who nudged her encouragingly, and then she was off like a shot. She caught up to her friends near the edge of the water, putting on the breaks a moment too late, and squeaked as she slid right into the cold water. She came up sputtering and splashing until gentle teeth grasped her scruff and pulled her from the water, depositing her firmly on the ground.

“You should be more careful, little bug,” the male said softly. Ladybug looked up, startled to find herself staring into the blue gaze of Juleka’s older brother, a young white lion by the name of Viper. At her stunned look, a hint of amusement entered his warm gaze and with a flick of his tail, he was gone, sauntering off to join Tikki and the other pridemates closer to his own age. Ladybug watched him go until Kagami suddenly leaped at her, bowling her over and driving the breath from her lungs in one fell swoop. This, naturally, started an all-out wrestling match between the cubs and for the rest of the day, they played and explored their new enclosure until the sun sank behind the horizon and their parents were calling for them to return to their new den for bed. As Ladybug followed her friends around the pool towards the den, she happened to look out towards one side of their enclosure and paused in confusion. She couldn’t be sure, but she felt certain there was someone out there, beyond their fence, watching her and the others as they made their way home for the night. Ladybug took a tentative step in that direction, mouth opening to call out a curious greeting to the stranger, but another call from her parents had her turning away and hurrying to catch up with the other cubs. Still, as she settled down between her mother and sister that night, she couldn’t help but think back on the stranger and wonder if he was another big cat, like them, and if so, whether he might want to play sometime. Ladybug was always eager to make new friends, and it would be interesting to see what other big cats lived in this new world that they had been transported to. With that thought in mind, Ladybug finally closed her eyes and drifted, blissfully, off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Lemme know what you think!


End file.
